Just a Dream
by justwandering
Summary: “We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.” - Jeremy Irons A year has passed since their worlds collided, can they handle that year again? post CoG
1. Chapter 1

I wasn't planning on writing more than a one-shot when I first started to write this. Chapter one is just a fluffy Jace/Clary drabble, and the main story really develops in chapter 2. Nothing but fluff in chapter 1. I promise more happens as you go!!

* * *

"Jace, what are we doing here?" Jace led Clary into the empty club. The lights were off and the only light was coming from the witchlight in Jace's hand, and the crack in the front door.

"Don't you know what day it is?" he smirked at her as he continued to lead her to the center of the room. He turned to face her, still holding onto her hand.

"I don't know. Isn't it the 12th of August or maybe the 13th?"

"Clary, your memory is worse than an old man's." he paused as she quietly laughed. "Today is a special day," he gently squeezed her hand, "it was a year ago today that we first met."

"It's been that long already, " she said as she let go of his hand twirled around and let the images of that night fill her head. The music, the people, the blue haired boy, Simon, and that golden haired boy who hadn't left her mind since that night. It was as if it had just happened.

"Clary!" Jace yelled and gently grabbed a hold of both of her arms to bring her back to reality. "It has been an entire year."

"I still can't believe that it all really happened." Clary began to drift off again when she felt Jace hand push her hair out of her face. "I'm afraid I am gonna wake up and it all would have been a really great nightmare."

"I heard that you couldn't get physically hurt in your dreams. You have had a few scratches that couldn't have happened while you were sleeping. And what do you mean about a really great nightmare. You were almost killed multiple times, how could that be really great?"

"I got you."

The two stood there in silence until Jace lifted his hands to cup her face, "You did get me alright." he lifted her chin up with his thumbs and lowered his face till his lips met hers. "You will always have me."

"So what are we gonna do here? Not much of a party." Clary said as she turned her back to Jace and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Well, I figured we could have our own little party. When we were here a year ago we didn't get to do much dancing. Actually, you thought I was a murderer a year ago. "

Clary removed herself from his arms, turned and made a face at him, "And you thought I was some freak mundane who just happen to be able to see you. "

"That sounds pretty accurate." pulling her toward him. "Things sure have changed Fray. But I am just as stunningly attractive. "

"And you are just as modest as ever."

"Okay, okay, now for what we are really here for." Jace sauntered over to the club's music system. "Do you know how to hook an iPod up to this thing?" Jace yelled from behind the dark mass of electronics.

"Since when to you have an iPod? Or actually listen to music besides the 'wailing of the dammed'?"

"Oh it's yours." Jace said casually as Clary began yelling.

"You stole my iPod! I thought I had lost it or Simon had taken it without asking! Why on earth did you take it! You should have asked!" she screamed without allowing a breath between words, or pausing between sentences.

"Yeah," Jace continued to fiddle with the wires as if nothing was wrong, "I needed to find a song. I didn't think you would mind." the noise of sparks, wires and Clary's angry breathing were the only noises that could be heard until the soft music of a piano began to play through the speakers. Clary looked around, letting the music fill her thoughts. It wasn't like any song that had ever played at Pandemonium.

Jace stood up from behind the DJ booth. He walked over to Clary, his hand extended outwards, "May I have this dance?"

Clary ran into his arms as the pace of the song quickened. Her hand entangled with his and her face buried into his chest. She looked up at Jace, and he wrapped his free hand around her waist and they began to float around the dark dance floor.

She closed her eyes and opened them again. She was in a long emerald green gown, Jace in black suit and they were dancing in the Hall of Accords in Alicante. It was what she always imagined. Her eyes drifted shut again, only to open to see that they were not in Alicante, but a dark dirty club in Brooklyn. Jace held her tight and smiled at her; this was real, better than any fantasy could ever be.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't feel like waiting to post this since chapter one doesn't really indicate anything that is going to happen. It is more like some mushy Jace/Clary drabble. So ~this is where the story is going to go!

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Clary stopped dancing and Jace continued to drag her dead weight for a moment.

"Did you hear that?" Clary released herself completely from his grasp and tried to figure out where the noise came from.

"Clary, is your hearing as bad as your memory?" Jace quipped and followed her as she panicked and listened closely, but the music was still playing. Jace's attempts to calm her down were unsuccessful. "I think you must be losing your mind. Maybe you are dreaming."

Clary scowled at him as the music faded to silence. "See I told you, no noise." Jace said certainly. Then there was a small crack overhead. They both looked up to see that the ceiling above them was splitting. "Shit."

Jace grabbed Clary and they ran before the ceiling collapsed on them. They reached the front door, which was locked. A loud crash resonated throughout the room as a dark figure fell through the hole in the ceiling. The creature and the heavy wood beams landed on the ground, causing the building to shake under their feet.

"JACE!! What is that!?!" Clary screamed and clung to him.

"Damn, we should have ran to the back door. That one is actually open. "

"JACE!!!!"

"I'm not sure what exactly it is Clary. I can't see more than a few feet in front of me." Jace reached down into his pocket to grab his dagger that he always carried with him. "Clary, see if you can get that door open. It shouldn't be able to handle the sunlight _if _it's a demon. "

Clary ruffled around into her pockets to see if she happened to have her stele or even a bobby pin to try to pick the lock. She reached into the zipped up pocket of her hoodie and found her stele. She turned to see Jace blocking her with his body. She could only see something faint moving toward them in the darkness.

She fumbled with the stele, almost dropping it on the ground. She tried to focus on drawing an opening rune on the door, but in her panicked state it made that difficult.

"Clary! What are you doing?" Jace took a step back. She could feel his heartbeat quickening through her back as he moved far enough back so they were touching.

Clary took a deep breath in and let her hand draw an opening rune. The lock snapped open and everything around them began to shake.

"Clary, what the hell did you do! " Jace turned to see that Clary had a stele in her hand and the lock was open. "Only you would try to unlock a door and cause the whole building to collapse. "

Pieces of sheetrock began to fall onto their heads. Jace pushed Clary through the door and held the door wide open to let the sunlight fill the room. The room became illuminated and filled with dust. He looked closely to try to see the creature that had fallen through the ceiling. As the dust began to settle he saw a demon, more enormous than most he had ever seen. Something was different about it though.

The beast was black, like normal demons but it had no face. No eyes, no mouth, no nose. It was a mass of black with a huge dark grey circle where a face might normally be. Jace tried to tell what it was. It resembled a clock but instead of numbers there were small shapes that looked like runes instead of numbers and there were no arms. The demon began to melt into the floor. It didn't wail. It didn't even leave any ichor on the floor of the club. It just disappeared.

Jace and Clary raced down the street as the people around them began to panic as the building collapsed and went up in flames. They were about a mile away and they could still see the flames and smoke rising above the other buildings. Their paced slowed as they continued to walk away from the burning club. They turned to look at each other, not speaking.

"Jace," Clary quietly spoke his name and stopped moving. He took a few more steps before stopping and turning to her. "What happened? It seems like there might be something on your mind. Well besides the fact that I caused Pandemonium to collapse."

"No Clary," he said and laughed almost inaudibly. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they proceeded to walk back to the institute.

* * *

"Church," Jace stepped into the Institute, only to be greeted by the cat, Clary following right behind, "Where are Isabelle and Alec?"

Church began hissing and snarling as he saw Clary behind Jace, "Doesn't look like he is going to be any help to us today." Clary brushed off the rejection from Church and followed Jace further into the Institute.

"ALEC!" Jace began screaming to find his friends, "ISABELLE!"

Jace and Clary walked down the long hallway hoping to find their friends to tell them what had happened. Soon, they heard a door they had passed open, "Seriously Jace, what are you doing? You woke me up! I thought you were sleeping to get ready for tonight anyway?" said a half awake, and visibly annoyed Isabelle.

"You saw me leave this morning to go get Clary. Did Meliorn drug you or something?" Jace replied.

"What the he'll are you talking about Jace? And what is a Clary? And who is that behind you?" Isabelle stood there waiting for a response, "JACE!"

"Izzy, what is wrong with you?" Jace took a step toward Izzy to see if her pupils were dilated or if she had any visible signs of hard drug use.

"What is wrong with me?" Isabelle threw her hands up in frustration, "You can't be serious Jace. I should be asking you that. You of all people should know not to bring mundanes into the institute. What the fuck were you thinking? Can't you take your little fling to a hotel like a normal person?"

Clary looked at Isabelle blankly. Was she that easy to forget? She reached for Jace's hand to help dull the hurt she had just felt. One of her closest friends just denied that they ever met. Jace could sense her hurt and gripped her hand more firmly as if he wouldn't let it go.

"Isabelle, where's Alec?" Jace said flatly.

"He's probably asleep in his room like you and I should be." Jace pulled Clary along with him down the hall and Isabelle yelled toward them before they were too far away, "I wouldn't go flaunting your mundane around to Alec if I were you. He might not be as nice as I was. "

Jace had his head down and was walking faster than normal. Clary was running to keep up so she wouldn't fall. She tried looking back to see Izzy's face but they were too far away to see any detail, but she knew that Isabelle was angry.

Jace began pounding on Alec's bedroom door, furiously. "Jace," Clary tried to get his attention, "calm down!"

"By the angel what is going on out here," a voice said from the other side of the door. The door opened and Alec appeared with mussed hair and in his pajamas. " Jace what are you doing?" Alec paused as his eyes fell on Clary, "Jesus Christ Jace have you lost your mind?"

"I had to knock as loud as I could, you are a pretty deep sleeper." Jace explained, "Do you know if your sister has started taking drugs? She was saying some pretty weird things when we saw her. "

"I wasn't taking about the knocking you moron! Who is that and why is she here!" Alec pointed to Clary, and she shrunk back behind Jace, as to shield herself, "If Hodge finds out, you will be a dead man."

"Hodge?" Jace and Clary said in unison.

"Dude," Jace continued, "You do remember that Hodge is dead right?"

Alec just stared at Jace, blinking rapidly as if he thought that Jace and the girl were just his imagination. He turned around to go back into his room, rubbing his eyes and looking back to see if they were still there. He gave up, and closed the door, leaving Clary and Jace in the long hallway.

"Maybe they ate something bad and are having memory loss? Isabelle is a pretty atrocious cook. " Clary tried to create a reason for what had just happened.

"Isabelle didn't cook last night." Jace stated flatly and slowly wandered back down the hall. "They don't remember you Clary. I don't know why but they don't. "

"Jace!" Clary began to jog to catch up to him, "Where are you going?"

Jace stopped in his tracks to let Clary catch up, "C'mon," Jace held out his hand for Clary to take, "let's go for a walk."


	3. Chapter 3

Eeeep! Thank you guys so much for the reviews! They really make my day!

This chapter is a bit shorter but it was at a nice stopping point. I hope you guys like it!

* * *

"We need to tell someone about Pandemonium and what happened." Clary mentioned to Jace as they neared Taki's.

"Ehh, we can tell someone after we eat. Fleeing from a crime scene takes a lot of energy out of me. " Jace held the door for Taki's open.

"Well, we know you have had practice."

"Says the one who caused an entire building to collapse."

"Shut up Jace." She whacked his arm as they found a booth and sat down.

"At least there won't be any finger prints or anything else for them to use to put the blame on you." he said and peered over the menu.

"Dammit," Clary yelled and slammed her menu onto the table, "My iPod is still there. If they plug it into a computer it will say Clary Fray's iPod." Jace just began laughing and Clary frowned at him, "It's not funny Jace!"

"Oh yes it is!" Jace's voice cracked from his hysterical laughter. He lowered his head to the table to resume his composure. He sat back up, breathed deeply in and out before continuing, "Do you really think that your iPod will be in good enough condition to plug into a computer after being in a building that collapsed then burst into flames?"

"Well I," she paused and scowled, "you never know!"

"Hello there Jace," interrupted the waitress Kaelie, "what can I get for you and your little friend?"

"I'll have the usual. Clary what do you want?" Jace set his menu down.

"I'm not sure yet." Clary gazed over the back of the menu and looked to Jace and then to Kaelie, still unsure of what she wanted.

"Okay, I will come back in a few minutes, it was Clary right?" Kaelie said, took Jace's menu and returned to the back.

"You think by now she would," Clary's voice slowed and softened as she noticed something, "know…who…I…was…by now."

"By the angel I will kill whoever is behind this." he smashed his fists on the table and his body rose from the force. Every eye in Taki's slowly turned to Jace. They were used to his antics by now. Harassing the occasional downworlder was a hobby. "Who the hell did this?" Jace's voice became sharp and threatening.

"Jace, please sit down." she leaned her body over the table, avoiding the sticky spots, and reached out to him to sit. Reluctantly he lowered back down onto the booth. His hands reached into his hair and clenched on to hold in his frustration and pulled his head down to the table. A moment passed before he was calm. The grasp he held on his hair was lessening. Slowly his eyes looked up to see Clary looking directly at him. Her eyes were glazed over, but she wore genuine smile on her face.

"You want to get out of here?" Jace held her gaze and Clary just nodded. Jace threw down some spare change onto the table and the two shadowhunters left Taki's unnoticed.

.....

"Jace, I kind of just want to go home now. Pretend most of today didn't happen." Clary looked down at her worn in green converse as they stood on the busy New York sidewalk.

"Okay, we'll get a taxi and get you home." Jace brushed the vibrant red curls out of her face and kissed the top of her head.

Jace strolled to the very edge of the sidewalk and threw up his arm to get a driver to stop. "You'd think my good looks would make this easier!"

"Most cab drivers are older men, I don't think you are their type." Clary fumbled over to his side and threw up her hand as well.

"Apparently you aren't their type either. " Jace commented as the fifth empty cab hurried by them.

Clary felt her phone start to vibrate in her pocket and she quickly groped around in her pocket to answer without looking at who was calling, "Hello?"

"Hey Clary, are we still going to Pandemonium tonight?" Jace could hear Simon's voice through the phone.

"Why would we be going there? It burned down." Clary held the phone close to her ear and used her other hand to block out the noise of the passing ambulance.

"You were the one who wanted to go and it definitely hasn't burned down. Where are you now anyway? It sounds loud."

"I'm with Jace near Taki's, we are trying to get a cab. "Clary yelled into the receiver.

"You need mace?" Clary had to move the phone away from her ear because of Simon's screaming. Jace cringed as he imagined Simon's voice screeching in his ears.

"No, I'm with Jace. "

"You're at your place? Then why is it so loud?" Clary, still holding the phone away from her ear rolled her eyes.

"Never mind Simon, I will call you later." and she hung up and looked to Jace, "At least he knows who I am. "

"Maybe it's forget Clary exists day today and weren't told about it." Jace scoffed.

"But Simon..." Clary began.

"Since when does Simon ever hear about new holidays until they are over?" Jace interrupted and sniggered, as his attempts at hailing a cab were successful. "Finally, a female driver."

Clary just shook her head as Jace opened the taxis door for her.

******

The cab slowly pulled up to the front of Luke's place. Clary and Jace reached into their pockets to get together the $15.74 for the cab fare. "Don't worry darling, the rides on me, as long as the next rides on you, just give me a call sometime," the middle aged driver slipped a piece of paper with her number through the Plexiglas divider and puckered her lips into the rearview mirror. She wore cracking red lips stick that stained her front teeth and enough blush and blue eye shadow for twenty drag queens.

"Thanks," Jace saluted with the scrap of paper between his fingers and Clary just looked at him as if he were on drugs, "but believe me, I won't be calling you and this little red head is the only one that will be riding me." Jace noticed as Clary's face turned as red as her hair and he pushed her out of the cab before the driver could jump through the divider to kill her.

"JACE!" Clary began screaming and trying to whack him. His arms held onto her shoulders as he pushed her off the sidewalk and onto the porch. He held her until he saw that the cab was far enough away that if the driver began to drive toward them, he could get both of them out of the way. "What on earth were you thinking!?!"

"Clary calm down. I only told her the truth my little cowgirl."

"I am not your little cowgirl and that woman didn't need to know about our relationship!" Clary looked up at him, his hands still on her shoulders.

"I love you Clary. " he gently squeezed her shoulder and bent his knees a bit to look straight into her eyes.

A smile grew on her face, "I love you too, but I sometimes wish you weren't so charming and old woman didn't fawn over you."

"My dashing good looks and undeniable charm could be called a curse, but would I be the same with out them?" he smirked his classic Jace smirk and kissed her tenderly. "Now, let's go tell Luke what happened and hope your mom isn't home. She probably won't be too pleased that you knocked a building over. "


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry this took me so long to update! School has been the death of me. And thank you guys again for the reviews! They really make me happy to read.

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Clary stepped in front of Jace to knock on the door. The building was old and didn't have a doorbell. The wooden door was worn and soft. This place had always felt more like home to her than the apartment her mother and her used to live in.

"Clary, you live here. Why don't you just open the door and walk in?" Jace began to reach for the old brass doorknob but before he could turn it Clary's hand was on top of his.

"No Jace." She looked concerned and scared. Something was not right today and she felt like it was just about to get worse. A looming feeling had stuck with her since her call with Simon. She hadn't mentioned going to Pandemonium with him in months. That, plus Alec and Isabelle forgetting who she was, something wasn't right. "Please, just wait till Luke comes to the door. "

She released her hand from his and he removed his hand from the doorknob. The handle was glistening softly from the sweat that came off his hand when Clary spoke to him. The way she looked at him sent a shiver though him. She was worried about something but she had no idea what was going to happen. The last time he had seen her look like that was when she found out that valentine had kidnapped her mother.

They heard footsteps approaching the door. Clary could see Luke's hair peering through the small pane of glass at the top of the door. The doorknob began to turn and Clary's heartbeat began to accelerate and she began to shake. Jace turned to her but there was nothing he could do to help her. Luke appeared from behind the door as it was pulled into the house, "Hey Clary, who is your friend?"

Before Luke could say anything else Clary collapsed onto the porch, holding onto her knees, quivering and crying. Jace instinctively kneeled down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. She tried to bury herself into his arms. His free hand pushed her hair out of her face and wiped the tears from underneath her eyes until he felt a sharp tug at his back that ripped him away from Clary.

"You keep your hands off of her." Luke growled. Jace starred him straight in the eyes unwavering. Luke could tell that the boy wasn't just going to run away. "Who are you and what are you doing with Clary?"

"My name is Jace Wayland, I'm a Shadowhunter and Clary's boyfriend." Jace said as if her were spouting off facts that everyone knew. "Now do you mind? Clary is upset and I am not going to leave her here crying on your front porch. "

Jace kneeled back down beside Clary to try get her calm enough to get her into the house. Luke held the door open, waiting for the boy at get Clary inside. The boy knew about shadowhunters and Luke could see the rune scars carved into his skin, but he we still suspicious of the strange boy. The only boys Clary ever mentioned were Simon and his band mates.

The boy managed to coax Clary off of the ground, inside and onto the couch, "So," the boy began to speak and he sat next to Clary on the worn brown couch.

"Who the hell are you?" Luke interrupted. He sat in a rocking chair, leaning toward Clary and the boy.

"I already told you," Jace said and Clary slid closer and leaned into Jace's body, "I am Jace Wayland. I am a Shadowhunter. "

"Hold on," Luke interrupted once more. He could see Jace rolling his eyes in the back of his head, "Would you please not touch Clary. "

"You think I put her face in my armpit? I am not in control of whether we are touching or not right now. And if you know Clary then you know she does what she wants."

"True." Luke said as if he shouldn't be agreeing, "Do you mind if we talk about this in the kitchen? Clary doesn't know about this stuff and I don't want to go against her mother's wishes. "

"She already knows, but if that's what you want, then fine." Jace grabbed a pillow to take his place as he got up incase Clary collapsed again. She didn't fall but sat up straight, eyes affixed to a blank point on the opposite wall.

Jace and Luke sat across from each other at the kitchen table. Luke had a cup of warm coffee still sitting on the table. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Jace ended the silence.

"How much do you know?" Luke said bluntly.

"Well, you are Lucian Graymark. You used to be a Shadowhunter like myself but now you are a lycanthrope. No one but Jocelyn, Clary's mom, knew you were alive for years because Valentine, your former parabatai sent you away with a knife to kill yourself after he found out you had indeed become a werewolf."

"What the hell is going on? How do you know all of that?"

"Long story." Jace traced the ring of condensation left by the coffee cup with his fingers.

"Well let's hear is Mr. Wayland. Or whoever you really are. " Luke slammed down his coffee cup almost crushing Jace's fingers.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you until I know what's going on myself. " he folded his arms and looked at Luke.

* * *

The noise of the slamming cup startled Clary and she came out of her daze. She let her eyes wander around the room. Things looked different, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Her eyes landed on the newspaper that lay sprawled on the coffee table. She scooted to the edge of the couch and rustled through the pages to find the front page. Tomorrows paper would probably talk about how a club burned down with no technically issues and no sign of arson.

The front page was right under the comics. The stories were bland. She never cared much for the newspaper. It wasn't her preferred reading material. She turned to the next page only to be drawn to the headline, "2007 Continues to be a Poor Year for Drivers." Her hands fumbled back to the front page. The date read August 13, 2007. Could it be possible that Luke had a paper that was exactly a year old sitting on his coffee table.

She took the paper and headed into the kitchen to ask Luke about the date. She gently knocked on the wall between the living room and kitchen. Both boys looked to her. Luke looked panicked, and Jace just smiled at her.

"Luke, is this today's paper?" she laid the paper down on the table.

"Yeah," Luke looked up, "Why do you ask?"

"Luke, we have to go. If we can tell you what is going on I will as soon as we can." Clary grabbed the paper and turned her body to Jace, "C'mon, we need to go."

Clary turned to leave before Jace could respond. Clary was already out the door before Jace jumped up to catch her, pushing the door open.

"Do you mind explaining what's going on?" Jace caught his breath and stopped in her path. She responded by holding the newspaper in front of him. "So?"

"It's 2007."

His golden eyes grew large and he snatched the paper from her hands to study it. He didn't say anything. He just lowered the paper and looked to Clary.

"What are we going to do?" Clary ran her hand through her hair, which got caught in the snagged curls.

"So it really is the day we met." Clary nodded in response, "And Valentine is still alive. "

"I guess so." she sighed. "Would that mean Simon wouldn't be a vampire? And that Max, and Hodge, and the Inquisitor are still alive?"

Jace's face tensed up, "I need to see this with my own eyes."

"So what should we do?" Clary asked once more.

"Well, if we really are back to 2007, then I need to just go kill valentine, and be done with it. "

"You can't just do that Jace. "

"Why the hell not. He tried to destroy everything. He killed me Clary." his jaw tensed up, "He killed me. "

"I know that. I witnessed it." Her voice cracked, and tears began to well up, but only one tear trickled down her cheek. She swallowed to regain some of her composure before resuming, "Have you ever seen the movie Back to the Future?"

"No," the mood was heavy. Jace couldn't physically say much without memories taking over his emotions.

"Well the main character uses a time machine and goes back to when his parents were teenagers. Well his mother starts to fall in love with him. Around that time in the past is when his parents were supposed to meet and fall in love. His impact on the past almost prevented him from being born. "

"We are only one year in the past Clary, and as far as I know, there isn't another set of us wandering around. Well I hope there isn't."

"I hadn't thought of that." Clary drifted off into other thoughts. Jace waved his hand in front of her face, "Oh, but if you just kill Valentine, we would have never officially met. Everything would be different. "

"We already know each other. I am talking to you right now." he said calmly. They were still standing along the edge of the road, only a block from Luke's house.

"Jace, can we please go to Pandemonium tonight and officially meet?" Clary looked pleadingly at him. "I would rather be safe, at least until we know what is going on. Maybe you can ask Hodge about time travel. "

"Fine," he paused, "I guess you should go home and get ready and meet up with Simon. I'm going to go back to the Institute and figure some things out. "

"Okay," her voiced wavered. She didn't want to leave him right now.

"Call me if you need me," he began to lead her down the sidewalk to her apartment. She held back and he slowed his pace. "What's wrong?"

Clary turned to face him before leaping into him, burying her face into him. His arms wrapped tight around her as she memorized his scent more than she already had. She felt his face ruffle in her hair.

"Everything will be fine," she stated and released herself from his arms. _Everything will be fine._

_

* * *

_

_A/N: I haven't killed off the story, I just have so much work that I need to do for school that this is on the WAY back burner. I plan to resume writing this once I am on winter break! _


End file.
